Joseph Schubert Entomology/Arachnology

Had a blast chatting spiders and the recent Bush Blitz expedition with Nate Byrne on ABC Australia this morning! Thanks for having me ABC 🕷️

One of several undescribed spider species we collected on the recent Alpine Bush Blitz expedition (Badge Huntsman - Neosparassus). Many of Australia's spiders are undescribed - they are unnamed, unknown, undocumented and invisible to government, industry, and the community.

Discovering and documenting undescribed species is crucial for their conservation and may prevent 'invisible' species from becoming extinct before they are even documented. If a species is not known, it cannot be adequately protected.

Bush Blitz is a species discovery partnership between the Australian Government through Parks Australia, BHP, and Earthwatch Australia and provides and important step towards documenting and conserving Australia's unique biodiversity.

Going to some pretty remote spots to look for spiders on the Australian Alps Bush Blitz expedition! Bush Blitz Earthwatch Parks Australia

I love Western Australia

A beautiful place to collect a new species to science! This spider was photographed a few days ago and shared online by Dee Newton and Dick Bailey. As soon as I saw the photo I knew it was something special! So the next day, we made the long trip out to the site where they found the spider.

They were kind enough to show us exactly where it was found, but it was raining and there was no sign of them. Yesterday we got some better weather and made the 4 hour-round trip to try again. After a few of hours of searching, we managed to find several specimens!

This story shows just how important documenting biodiversity and sharing it on social media can be for science and conservation. Congratulations to Dick and Dee for their wonderful discovery!

Described only 6 months ago, here's a male Maratus candens we recently found. While looking for its sister species (Maratus felinus) at a very flooded site, we learnt the hard way that car alternators don't like mud 😅 Special thanks to my mate Mathew Hourston for letting us stay at his place in Quinninup while we were broken down!

After years of dreaming about seeing this species, I've finally found Maratus personatus - the Masked Peacock Spider! The field site I found it at was pretty nice too 🏖️

Yesterday I stumbled upon this little guy while I was looking for a different species. I had a closer look and realised this one was actually an undiscovered species! First day of fieldwork in WA bringing on new peacock spiders already 😍

Currently travelling to one of the world's most remarkable biodiversity hotspots - the Southwest Australian Ecoregion! The near 10,000km roadtrip will involve documenting the incredible diversity of peacock spiders inhabiting Australia's southern coast (and hopefully discovering some new species along the way!) 🕷️

Well I don't plan on becoming a hand model any time soon but check out how tiny this jumping spider on my finger is! 🤏🕷️

This species is unknown to science and the clade it belongs to will be the focus of my first PhD chapter. 🧬🔬

Happy Mother's Day! Here's a mama to be green pisaurid spider (Hygropoda lineata) from Far North Queensland holding onto her precious egg sac.

University of Sydney Molecular Ecology, Evolution, and Phylogenetics Lab's 2022 group photo 🔬🧬

I've arrived home from fieldwork in Northern Queensland to the awesome news that we have hit 50,000 described and valid spider species! This is a huge milestone that has taken us 265 years to reach. While this is an impressive number, we estimate that this represents less than half of the true diversity of spiders on earth. So here's to documenting the next 50,000 spider species! Thanks to the World Spider Catalog team for maintaining an accurate and up-to-date list of the world's spider species.

Cave peacock spiders? 👀

Great first night in Far North Queensland! This is a stunning fireback huntsman (Beregama cordata)

Come meet Horridus! 🦖🦕

Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs is now open to the public at Melbourne Museum, featuring the world's most complete and best preserved Triceratops specimen. I highly recommend it!

In absolute disbelief that a giant Maratus nemo made an appearance in the Moomba Festival parade today! Totally unbelievable to see a species I described walking through the streets of Melbourne 🕷️💖 Thanks for having me today, Moomba!

Polyzosteria mitchelli might just be the most handsome cockroach I have ever met 🪳

made a friend today 🥰

First time visiting the Australian Museum Research Institute's spider lab today! VERY FUN

tonight I went over to Jürgen Otto's place for dinner and it was awesome Peacock Spider

Tonight I'm working on the revision of a genus of large huntsman spiders called Typostola 🕷️ Pictured is the holotype specimen of T. tari, the only species of the genus known from Papua New Guinea.

This work will also include the description of a new species perfectly suited for the year of the tiger 👀🐯

One of the smallest known peacock spider species (Maratus robinsoni, ~2.5mm in length) looking like a tiny gem in the sand 🕷️💎

I'm meant to be on holidays but I CAN'T STOP looking for BUGS